By Chris Kavan - 12/10/17 at 09:04 PM CT
The box office really did look a lot like last weekend as the top three films remained unchanged as Coco, Justice League and Wonder were once again the champs. James Franco's The Disaster Artist had an excellent expansion, landing in fourth place while the geriatric comedy Just Getting Started was just a disaster, barely able to make it into the top 10. All in all, it was another quiet weekend before Star Wars: The Last Jedi drops (and it set to become just the fourth film in modern history to open above $200 million).
1) COCO
For the third time in as many weeks, Coco had little problem holding on to the top spot at the box office. Taking in $18.3 million, and dropping a light 33.5%, the animated Pixar film now stands at a healthy $135.5 million. At its current pace (and hoping Ferdinand and Star Wars don't make too big a dent), Coco should wind up in about the same place as Moana and Toy Story 2 in the $145-$150 million range. It is still doing great overseas as well, led by $128 million in China alone, with a total of $254 million for a global total near $390 million. Coco extends the Disney/Pixar winning streak and looks to finish strong as the year comes to a close.
2)
JUSTICE LEAGUE
The heroes of Justice League continue to soldier on - reaching the $600 million mark worldwide with a $9.6 million weekend and new domestic total of $212 million. Even though Justice League is still a bit of a disappointment, it did help Warner Bros. become the first studio in 2017 to hit the $2 billion mark domestically. In addition to being the second-best domestic total for the studio, it also hit $5 billion worldwide - the best yearly total for the studio to date. It helps that this year gave us Wonder Woman, It and Dunkirk in addition to Justice League. While this great team may have fallen a bit short of expectations, I don't think it's going to hurt anything in the long run.
3)
WONDER
Wonder continued to expand in its fourth week - adding 70 theaters and dipping a mere 30.4%, taking in $8.45 million and crossing the $100 million mark with a new total of $100.3 million. The feel-good film of the year is now the second-best domestic release for Lionsgate since La-La Land and had a good chance of catching up to the $151 million total of the Oscar winner to become Lionsgate's highest-grossing film outside of the Twilight/Hunger Games franchise. Wonder has made a little overseas as well, adding $11.4 million for a $29.4 million total, including two weeks in the top spot in Australia. Wonder will no doubt be affected by Star Wars as well, though it may weather the storm better than many of the other films. I have a feeling this is going to stick around for at least a few more weeks.
4)
THE DISASTER ARTIST
After having a great limited release debut, James Franco's The Disaster Artist looked strong in wide release as well. Expanding into 840 theaters (from 19), The Disaster Artist saw a 431.3% increase with a fourth-place finish and a $6.43 million weekend. That gives the look into the making of Tommy Wiseau's infamouse films, The Room, a total of $8.03 million. Released by A24, audiences seemed pleased and plans are for even more expansion in the coming weeks. Once again, the audience for The Disaster Audience should hold up better against Star Wars.
5)
THOR: RAGNAROK
Rounding out the top five, Marvel's latest, Thor: Ragnarok dipped 36.4% and delivered a $6.29 million weekend, helping the film cross the $300 million mark with a new total of $301.1 million. That makes it the 10th Marvel film to hit that mark and its $532 million overseas gives it a global total of $833 million places it at seventh place for the 2017, just below Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($863.6 million) and topping Wonder Woman ($821.8 million). That is also the third-best total for a Marvel film that doesn't have Iron Man - so, yeah, milestones and all that. Disney is probably going to knock the wind out of Thor's sails with their own other franchise - but don't weep for Thor, because it's looking just fine.
Outside the top five: The Grumpy Old Mob story, otherwise known as Just Getting Started, was a non-starter, winding up way down in 10th place with just $3.18 million. Despite a decent cast of Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, Rene Russo, Jane Seymour and Joe Pantoliano the $22 million film is going to fall well short of being profitable. Audiences awarded it a blah "C" Cinemascore and critics savaged it. The film is not likely to last out December.
In better news, I, Tonya, the biography of figure skater Tonya Harding starring Margot Robbie in the title role, got off to an excellent start in limited release with $$245,602 in four theaters and a great $61,401 per-theater average. With dazzling reviews Craig Gillespie's film is going to stay in limited release for awhile, not going wide until the new year.
Next week, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is going to dominate the box office with the biggest question being how will it compare to the monster total of The Force Awakens. The only other film brave enough to open is the animated Ferdinand, which I suspect is going to be buried.
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